Bannock County
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Among the honored pioneers of southeastern Idaho there is none held in
higher esteem and honor than the estimable subject of this sketch.
Joseph P. Simmons, who has played an important part in furthering the
progress of this state as one of the early and representative stockmen
of his section, being also an historic character from the fact of his
being the first white male child born in Utah to the family of a
settler, his birth occurring on February 11, 1847. His parents were
William B. and Mary A. (Taylor) Simmons, the mother being of English
lineage, and the father a French Canadian and a sailor. They came to
Utah but a short time previous to the birth of their son, the father
soon going on to California, returning, however, to Utah in 1850, and
after residing there for eight years coming to the region of Bannock
county, Idaho, being a pioneer of Idaho as well as Utah and California.
He was extremely active as a public man, and assisted greatly in the
building up of many of the early new settlements. He died in Farmington,
Utah, in 1889, his widow dying near Idaho Falls on March 27, 1900.
The only attendance at school that the subject of this memoir
secured was three months at Ogden, but by self-instruction, observation
and experience he has obtained a well-rounded out knowledge and is
learned in many things beyond those taught in school books. At the age
of seventeen years he went out into the world on his own responsibility,
his first occupation being herding, which he steadily followed for a
period of nearly eight years, then he became a rancher, settling on land
in Marsh Valley, where he resided twelve years, thence proceeding to his
present location, where his earnest industry and steady application have
been generously rewarded. He is now the proprietor of a valuable ranch
of 200 acres and devotes himself to the raising of large crop- of hay,
also to the raising of sheep, of which he is now running a band of 400
head.
Mr. Simmons first married Miss Emma J. Douglas, a daughter
of Ralph and Jane (Jones) Douglas, of the very early pioneers of Utah.
She died after thirteen months of married life, and subsequently he
formed a matrimonial alliance with Miss Mary E. Bennett, a daughter of
Alfred A. and Lucy (Saxe) Bennett, natives of Iowa, who were also
numbered among the early immigrants into Utah, and after a residence of
some years in that territory came to Soda Springs, Idaho, where the
mother died in December, 1895, and the father now resides. Three
children constitute the family of Mr. and Mrs. Simmons, Jody, born
October 15, 1886. Emma B., born February 15, 1887, and LeRoy, born March
19, 1897.
Energetic, genial and a lover of society. Mr. Simmons
has a large circle of friends and in the Modern Woodmen of America, to
which he belongs, he stands in prominent relationship, being one of the
three managers of his lodge. Mr. and Mrs. Simmons are extensively and
pleasantly known to a large number and their friends are as numerous as
their list of acquaintances.
Extracted from Progressive Men of Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Fremont and Oneida Counties, Idaho, published in 1904, page 614, contributed 2021 Jun 15 by Norma Hass
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